Metagenomic natural product discovery in lichen provides evidence for a family of biosynthetic pathways in diverse symbioses.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria are a major source of natural products that provide rich opportunities for both chemical and biological investigation. Although the vast majority of known bacterial metabolites derive from free-living organisms, increasing evidence supports the widespread existence of chemically prolific bacteria living in symbioses. A strategy based on bioinformatic prediction, symbiont cultivation, isotopic enrichment, and advanced analytics was used to characterize a unique polyketide, nosperin, from a lichen-associated Nostoc sp. cyanobacterium. The biosynthetic gene cluster and the structure of nosperin, determined from 30 μg of compound, are related to those of the pederin group previously known only from nonphotosynthetic bacteria associated with beetles and marine sponges. The presence of

SUBMITTER: Kampa A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3746887 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature